Tag: Breaking News

Bellator’s Michael Chandler Trying to “Stay Humble and Hungry” on Spike TV Debut

To Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, main-eventing Bellator’s Spike TV debut opposite Rick Hawn isn’t that big of a deal. In fact, the lightweight champ is unimpressed with himself and his accolades. “It’s one of those thi…

To Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, main-eventing Bellator’s Spike TV debut opposite Rick Hawn isn’t that big of a deal. 

In fact, the lightweight champ is unimpressed with himself and his accolades. 

“It’s one of those things where you gotta stay grounded,” he told the media at a conference call at which Bleacher Report was present. “You gotta realize—what I’ve accomplished so far is nothing compared to what to I want to accomplish as far as wins, as far as being able to go out there and put on great performances for the fans.”

Some MMA fans might forget the name “Michael Chandler” since he only fought once in 2012 (a 56-second destruction of Akihiro Gono in May).

But Chandler’s crowning MMA achievement was a spectacular upset victory over former champ Eddie Alvarez.

This is the same Eddie Alvarez who was UFC-bound before he became embroiled in a legal battle with Bellator that has been making headlines recently.

Chandler defeated a fighter good enough for the UFC in Alvarez, yet still, his name doesn’t carry more weight among fans. 

Chandler was mum when asked about this unfortunate phenomenon. 

“Obviously, as a young, young, hungry fighter, I’d like to be fighting three or four times a year…Since then I’ve done a lot of training…tried to get my name out there as much as possible…I really feel like I’ve grown a ton as a fighter and gotten a ton better,” he said. 

For his sake, he better have grown as a fighter. Chandler’s Bellator 85 opponent Rick Hawn is no joke. Hawn is a judo Olympian who proved to be a knockout artist. He’s a dangerous opponent and one Chandler greatly anticipates fighting. 

“That’s one of the best things about this fight, is the opportunity to fight a guy like Rick Hawn, a competitor like Rick Hawn,” said Chandler.

Concerning strategy against such a diverse opponent, Chandler was nonchalant.

“I don’t focus on how I’m gonna get the finish or how I would like to get the finish. I focus on just my gameplan that I’ve gone over with myself, my coaches. If the finish comes it comes,” he said.

“If not, you’re gonna see a 5-round war and I think the fans would love that. It’s gonna be an exciting fight no matter what from bell to bell, from round to round.”

An exciting fight would make many happy, especially Bellator and Spike TV brass since an entertaining scrap between the two men could a “Griffin-Bonnar” moment for Bellator, something that catapults them to the next level of popularity and brand recognition.

Michael Chandler will square off against Rick Hawn at Bellator 85 on January 17 at 10 p.m. ET on Spike TV. Chandler’s Bellator lightweight title will be at stake. 

 

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Rousimar Palhares Failed Drug Test; T/E Ratio Exceeded 9/1

Thursday, the drug tests from UFC on FX 6 came back and tattled on a pair of UFC notables: Joey Beltran and Rousimar Palhares.The initial report (courtesy of MMAweekly.com) showed us that heavyweight Beltran tested positive for the banned steroid nandr…

Thursday, the drug tests from UFC on FX 6 came back and tattled on a pair of UFC notables: Joey Beltran and Rousimar Palhares.

The initial report (courtesy of MMAweekly.com) showed us that heavyweight Beltran tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone and that the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of Palhares was above the acceptable limits.

Although the original announcement did not have specific information regarding Palhares‘ T/E ratio from his post-fight urinalysis, Kevin Iole from Yahoo! Sports recently turned to Twitter with a report that “Toquinho’s” levels had a ratio of 9-to-1.

 

 

Iole does make note of the WADA-approved limit of 4-to-1. However, in mixed martial arts, the Nevada State Athletic Commission allows professional fighters to fight with a ratio as high as 6-to-1. 

Rousimar Palhares has been suspended for nine months, retroactive to December 15. The test does not alter the result of his fight, as the Brazilian was unsuccessful against Hector Lombard on the card.

Testosterone replacement therapy has been a hot-button issue in mixed martial arts. Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt have both infamously tested positive for elevated T/E ratios due to the controversial treatments while other stars like Dan Henderson are also admitted users.

Most recently, former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort had an interesting interview regarding TRT and its practice in modern fighting. While he did not confirm his use of the treatment, his inability to answer a question clearly has led to speculation.

In any event, kudos to the UFC for continuing to punish offenders who attempt to gain an unfair advantage inside the Octagon.

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Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney on Spike TV Deal: “It’s Opened Up a Lot of Doors”

Bellator Fighting Championships has been waiting since late 2011 to make their debut on Spike TV. Next Thursday, it’s finally happening. CEO Bjorn Rebney is excited, if not a little anxious. “It was probably a longer time than some of us want…

Bellator Fighting Championships has been waiting since late 2011 to make their debut on Spike TV. Next Thursday, it’s finally happening. 

CEO Bjorn Rebney is excited, if not a little anxious. 

“It was probably a longer time than some of us wanted,” Rebney said at a media conference call, at which Bleacher Report was present. 

However, Rebney saw the silver lining in the contractually obligated MTV2 clouds that kept his promotion away from Spike TV in 2012. “Just a lot of time to prep, a lot of time to get ready, a lot of time to do it right. What you’re gonna see next Thursday night on Spike at 10:00 is the best of what we have,” he said. 

Rebney is referring to several things when he says “best of what we have.” There are, of course, the fights and fighters. There are two title fights on the card. Michael Chandler will defend his lightweight title against Rick Hawn, while Pat Curran will attempt to keep his featherweight title from the hands of Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

However, there’s also the rarely-thought-of back end of an MMA television production. It’s there that Spike TV is making a huge difference, according to Rebney. 

“It is a different looking show,” said Rebney.

Bellator‘s Spike TV debut will display “a really great television production in terms of everything from graphics, to sound, to production enhancements we’ve been going through over the last couple of months,” he said. 

“It’ll be in HD everywhere across the country that you want to watch it, in 100 million homes…The difference between SD and HD is night and day,” he said.

But clearer, brighter production values aren’t all the Spike TV debut promises to deliver. Rebney was sure to note this, saying that Bellator on Spike TV would have “a new graphics package, new opens, and new feature pieces that we’re shooting with home follows where we’ve been going into the gym with Rick [Hawn] and going into the Gym with Pat [Curran] and Mike [Chandler] and Patricio [Freire] etc.”

Gone are the days of Bellator‘s dark, dreary production values that made you feel like you were watching a fight going on in some dingy, bush-league venue.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Spike TV has had an impact for Bellator in that area as well. 

“When you have a partner like Spike, it opens up a lot of doors,” Rebney said. “But with the Spike alliance, from a sponsorship perspective, from a casino perspective, from a venue perspective, international and on and on, It’s opened up door after door after door…it’s opened up a lot of opportunities for us at bigger venues in more prolific areas.” 

Rebney elaborated: 

It’s really about fights and it’s about the push and it’s about the branding that opens up those doors. Also it’s the 10:00 start. Look at the events we’re talking about, Albuquerque, Dallas, the greater southern California market. Those were not available opportunities to us when we had an 8:00 start, because for the west coast you’re talking about a 5:00 live to TV. And on a weeknight on a Thursday night, that wouldn’t fly. Now with a 10:00 start coming off of [TNA Impact Wrestling], you’ve got a 7:00 live to TV on the west coast. So it works perfectly for us. It’s opened up doors to us in hotbeds of mixed martial arts. It’s opened up a lot of doors to us that weren’t open in the past based on timing and based on the Spike partnership that we got.

The MMA world has less than a week to see if his talk has any substance to it. Rebney himself, however, is practically giddy thinking about the event. 

“We have done 84 events over the last four years and I can tell you with all truth and sincerity I’ve never been more excited about sitting cageside than I am for next Thursday’s premier event on Spike,” he said.

Bellator 85—their inaugural event on Spike TV—will take place on January 17th. It is headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Mike Chandler and challenger Rick Hawn. The Bellator featherweight title will also be contested when champion Pat Curran meets Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

 

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Bellator Champion Pat Curran: “I Don’t Ever Want to Fight in a Tournament Again”

Pat Curran may have won two tournaments while fighting for Bellator; however, that doesn’t mean that the reigning featherweight champion has any interest in going for a hat trick.As part of the move to Spike TV, Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has also…

Pat Curran may have won two tournaments while fighting for Bellator; however, that doesn’t mean that the reigning featherweight champion has any interest in going for a hat trick.

As part of the move to Spike TV, Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has also added in a new policy which will allow him to schedule rematches for any title bout that is deemed worthy of a second meeting.

During Friday’s teleconference to promote Bellator 85, Curran was asked about the new policy and whether or not he supported it:

It’s great. Especially for a champion, if you do lose, you have that opportunity to take a second fight and redeem yourself. Coming out of two tournaments…I don’t want to ever fight in a tournament again.

With top stars from the company unwilling to enter the gauntlet once again, Rebney was right to remove such a booking limitation.

Curran won Bellator‘s Season 2 lightweight tournament but was unsuccessful in dethroning champion Alvarez for the belt. Based on the organizational structuring, Curran needed to win another tournament before he would be granted a second chance at picking up gold.

In 2011, Curran dropped to featherweight and picked up his second tournament victory. Not taking his second chance for granted, “Paddy Mike” unleashed a brutal combo of strikes that repeatedly knocked out champion Joe Warren.

However, who could blame Curran for not wanting to start from scratch? As the most marketable competitor in the featherweight division, heading back to the drawing board isn’t a desirable outcome by any means.

Ultimately, this could prove to be a moot point, as Curran certainly doesn’t plan on losing his belt anytime soon. Heading into his first title defense against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Curran has great expectations following an excellent training camp.

The bout with Pitbull will kick off the main card of Bellator 85, which airs live on Spike TV on Thursday, January 17 at 10pm.

The champion doesn’t take any offense at being booked in the first fight on the card. In fact, he is flattered by the faith that Rebney has displayed by putting him in the first Bellator bout to ever air on their new network:

I’m looking to start the year off right and have fireworks with Pitbull. I want to put on the best performances of my life and please the crowd. I want to keep amazing people.

Fireworks will be on full display at the event, as Curran and Freire are two of the most exciting featherweights on the planet, sharing 11 knockouts and 23 finishes between them.

For more analysis on all things Bellator, stay tuned to Bleacher Report MMA.

Andrew Saunders is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

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Cain Velasquez Responds to Tyson Fury: ‘Don’t Talk About It, Go Ahead and Do It’

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has responded to the call-out by undefeated heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, but don’t expect the two to face off anytime soon. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter addressed Fury’s recent Twitter outburst i…

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has responded to the call-out by undefeated heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, but don’t expect the two to face off anytime soon. 

The American Kickboxing Academy fighter addressed Fury’s recent Twitter outburst in an interview with ESPN Chicago: 

“I’m not a boxer,” he said. “I’m a mixed martial artist, and if he wants to fight, he can go into the UFC and work his way up like everybody else does. Nothing is given to you in this world. “To me, it’s like don’t talk about it, go ahead and do it. That’s all I have to say about that.” 

Last week, Fury sent out several tweets aimed at Velasquez, beginning with “I challenge u to fight all in in a cage or ring! It could be billed as the man vs midget lets get it on!” 

This was the first of several impromptu challenges, which also included UFC middleweight Michael Bisping and heavyweight journeyman/walking punchline Bob Sapp. 

Velasquez is brushing off the unexpected proposition as a publicity stunt. 

“I didn’t know who he was until this,” Velasquez told ESPNChicago.com. “I think he’s using my name to gain publicity, which he has done, everybody is bringing it up.”

In recent years, accomplished boxers have entered the cage with mixed results.

Former Olympic boxing gold medalist/WBO Heavyweight Champion Ray Mercer knocked out former UFC heavyweight title holder Tim Sylvia on the regional circuit in June 2009. 

However, it was the complete opposite when former UFC heavyweight/light heavyweight champ Randy Couture fought James Toney—a boxing world champ in four separate divisions, at UFC 118 in Aug. 2010. 

After securing a takedown in less than a minute, Couture used some signature ground and pound to set up an arm triangle choke, earning the submission win in less than two minutes. 

Velasquez also told ESPN he would not be interested in fighting Fury in a similar type of fight even if his title wasn’t on the line, reiterating that Fury should have to work his way to a high-profile fight like anyone else. 

Have we heard the last of Fury vs. Velasquez or is this just the end of the first chapter of what will be an ongoing saga in the weeks to come?

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Eddie Alvarez’s Reported UFC Contract Does Not Guarantee a Title Shot

Between the recent signing of Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce’s impending cessation of operations, the UFC’s already stacked 155-pound division is about to get a serious infusion of talent. In a division wrought with existing title co…

Between the recent signing of Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce’s impending cessation of operations, the UFC’s already stacked 155-pound division is about to get a serious infusion of talent. 

In a division wrought with existing title contenders, introducing Alvarez and Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez raises some questions over who will next get the nod to vie for Benson Henderson’s coveted strap.

In a recent interview with MiddleEasy.com, UFC head honcho Dana White shed some light on how the 155-pound division’s title picture will play out. He squashed rumors that Alvarez is next in line. 

Gilbert Melendez is the guy who will get the title shot. That’s going to happen. Eddie Alvarez’s contract doesn’t say that he gets an immediate title shot. He’ll get a fight in the UFC….I would definitely be looking to Gilbert Melendez next. Eddie Alvarez will come in and fight a fight against a top contender to see if he gets a shot at the title.

That seems to paint a pretty clear picture of the direction the UFC’s lightweight division is headed in, though nothing is written in stone. Between potential injuries and other title candidates emerging, White’s forecasts are not infallible.

Alvarez will no doubt start out near the top of the division, as White’s comments imply. The expectations are that he will face off against a top-10 lightweight. 

If Melendez does indeed garner a title shot upon entering the UFC, he will carry his seven-fight win streak into a battle with Henderson that would unify the Strikeforce and UFC titles, though the former will soon be defunct. 

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